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Tony Blair Signs MOU With Indian University In New Delhi, India

NEW DELHI, INDIA - DECEMBER 10: Tony Blair signs the MOU, the first ever partnership with an Indian University with BHU Professor, Priyankar Upadhyaya on December 10, 2012 in New Delhi, India. Rt Hon. Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Founder and Patron of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, was in New Delhi today to launch a historic partnership with Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and to foster close co-operation with Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) paving the way for stronger interfaith links and religious understanding in India. The partnership is the start of the Tony Blair Faith Foundations Faith and Globalisation Initiative (FGI) network in India, which launched on the global stage in 2008. Banaras Hindu University the first Indian university to join the programme joins 11 other influential global institutions, including Yale and Peking University, which run programmes to equip students with the skills they need to understand religions presence and importance in the modern world, so they become successful leaders and policy makers of the future. The programme will explore issues such as religion and conflict, religion and public life and human rights. FGI students will have the opportunity to connect directly with students across the globe, learning together to respect, not fear, difference - and understand how religion motivates society and the world. Tony Blair, Founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, said: I am delighted to be here in India, discussing how religion impacts the lives of millions in this country and what we can learn from it. Indias rich and religiously-diverse population, living under its burgeoning democracy, has much to offer the rest of the world. I am especially pleased to announce that the Banaras Hindu University is the first Indian university to join my Foundations Faith and Globalisation Initiative. Along wit PHOTOGRAPH BY Sagar Kaul / Barcroft India /Barcoft Media via Getty Images